Gonzaga University Top Questions

I would say to work hard. To keep pushing myself harder academically to get more finincial aid. Once college roles around, you will realize the intense expenses and the more financial aid, grants, and scholarships will help out your parents pay for their fourth child to go to Gonzaga. Work as hard as you can to get to Gonzaga, because here is where your life really begins. Be ready to work just as hard in college and even harder so you can enjoy the social opportunities college presents and still thrive academically. Work hard to play hard. Be willing to be more brave, to be outgoing. This will help in getting jobs, financial aid and making a new circle of friends. So be brave and when the time is right throw caution to the wind and put yourself out there. College is about reconciling the teenage version of yourself and the adult person you will become. Be prepared to have disappointments with grades and social life, but the important thing is to grow and learn from all these new experiences. So, in that time of preparing for a huge change, be excited, and be ready to work hard.

I would tell myself to pay attention and that school is not a joke, or something to pass your time. I would tell my self to study and do all my work. I would tell myself to take classes that will make a difference in my life and not just some easy blow off class. I would also tell myself to be nice to everyone and not be so judgemental, they are fighting a harder battle than me.

College is an adventure and high school seniors need to remember this. No matter what score a student received on college placement tests, no matter how hard he prepares to excel to carry those skills over the demands of college rigor, those high school skills lay the groundwork. At college, everything is new: environment, time management, your social development, and the rise of everyday challenges. Your graduating class and the new one at university are mirrored; they are both one, together, though two worlds apart. It is essential to investigate if a certain college is the right place, for learning, social growth, and opportunitive to give back before deciding on a school. One of the reasons I transitioned positively into college was because I embraced the adventure to do so. There are always those moments that would have benefited from looking at the big picture. College shows new perspectives, challenges old perspectives, develops insight, placing students in the big picture. Insight can be gained inside the classroom but often is from the people you meet. It is important to work hard and remember to balance prepartion with inspiration. Every task can be purposeful, by not simply doing, but learning.

College is not as hard as the teachers in high school say. The professors are much easier going and so much more forgiving that you had origianlly thought. A piece of advice though: Do not slack on finding scholarships, if you had gotten any it would have helped tremendously, and if possible, try to take less classes in the first year, 18 credits is too hard for you to take. Also, do not go to your room during those one hour breaks inbetween classes, it just makes it too easy to not go to class...

College is one of the greatest experiences you are ever going to have. I want you to take advantage of every opportunity you can, and break down any personal barriers you may have. This is the time in your life when you are really going to discover who you are and what you want to do with your life. Be safe and always surround yourself with good people; they will be the ones you can rely on when you find yourself in a pickle. Go to college, study hard, be safe, but most of all, have fun. Step out of your comfort zone and try things you never have before. There is no one holding you back except yourself.

Looking back on senior year from where I am now, I realize how much I have grown up in the past 2 years. Currently, with one semester of college under my belt and more life experience than I can explain, I wish I could go back and warn myself what was waiting down the road. I would stress that choosing to go to college would not be as easy as many traditional families make it look. Unlike many of my peers who were left with trust funds or strong financial support from parents, I was on my own and would have to work hard every day to ensure my future stayed on track. Despite the fact that I was maintaining a 3.9 gpa and getting involved in extracurriculars, I never thought to consider that something as small as a deadline for a form could easily end my college career before it really even started. Now, paying rent in a new house after narrowly escaping debt from a previous landlord along with struggling to find enough work, I understand the full weight of every decision I make and how close I am to failure if I'm not careful.

In high school, it seemed that everyone was so caught up in appearances: who wore name brand clothes, who drove the fastest, most awesome cars, or who was dating whom. A lot of times throughout high school, my peers and I felt pressured to "fit in" or else the rest of the school would not accept us and people would be too quick to judge. However, now that I am in college, I do not feel the pressure to mask myself under clothes of a certain brand. I do not have access to a car, and neither do a vast majority of other college students. Dating is not important to me; concentrating on my studies and succeeding is what really matters, in my opinion. The bottom line is, now that I am attending college at the best University for me, I can feel awesome just being myself. I do not feel as if I am constantly being judged, nor do I judge others. When making the transition to college life, do not get caught up in appearances; just have a lot of fun and be yourself!

I had a unique senior year experience by deciding to get involved in the Running Start program at my local community college. I continued with one class at my high school and three at Everett Community College. If I could talk to myself now as a high school senior I would encourage myself to be more aware of the world around me. I have always been about hitting the books, getting good grades, and getting ahead whenever I get the chance. This is a great trait to have, except I missed out on a lot of my social learning. Schoolwork and classrooms are only part of the learning process that people go through. My experience here at Gonzaga University has taught me a lot about myself that I didn?t know. I never noticed how many events I missed out on over the years. These events were as small as having dinner with people I had never met, and as big as missing out on experiences with people I can?t anymore. I wish I had taken time to look around and learn not only from a notebook, but from the opportunities I could have taken my senior year.

If I could go back in time to my senior year of high school and tell myself something, now having experienced college life, I would tell myself to make more good friends and spend more time developing the precious friendships that I already have. My biggest regret now that I am in college is that I did not try hard enough to stay in touch with friends and mature our relationships as we left home to attend college in different states across the country. My early college experience would have been greatly enhanced if I could have shared difficulties and successes about the transition to college as well as academic experiences with someone I was familiar with and could trust to get the emotional support that really could have helped us both in the transition. I would further stress to myself that there is no harm in being overly friendly to people I pass in the halls and really try to renew friendships that could last through these stressful college experiences.

If I could go back in time to give myself advice as a high school senior, I would tell myself two things. Read your textbooks, and college isn't as scary as it seems. Reading your textbooks is a key factor in doing well in college classes. It's not as easy as high school is and most of the information on tests comes directly from the reading. College is fun. Making friends and all of those things you think are really scary really aren't. College is a lot of work, but it is also a lot of fun. Don't be scared and work hard. Give it your best and you will do fine.